Credit Card Point and Miles Misconceptions
With tons of credit card points and miles misconceptions out there it’s hard to know what’s true and what is false. Everyone has them, we hear them daily, but no worries because today we are going to teach you the facts and dispel misconceptions.

Credit Card Points/Miles Ruins Your Credit Score
I think this is easily the most common misconception out there. This is simply not true, even though it’s been taught for many years. The biggest thing to always remember is pay of your balance in full every months. We have a full post on your credit score and how to maintain it while opening credit cards.
You Have to Spend Tons and Tons of Money to Earn a Lot of Points
Before I started utilizing credit card points and miles by opening new cards for their sign up bonus I was under the impression the only way to attain miles was spending a ton of money or traveling a lot.
This is false. Put your everyday spending on credit cards maximizing credit card welcome offers and bonus categories. This is where we earn the biggest chunk of points year after year.
Credit Card Points Take to Much Time and is Confusing
While it does take a bit of time to manage the sign up bonus offers, credit cards etc. They pay off is completely worth it.
Things that will take time:
- Applying for cards
- Arranging bill pays on new cards
- Keeping track of 5/24 status
- Tracking Sign Up Bonuses
- Tracking bonus spending categories
To me the little effort I put into managing this is well worth the pay off of traveling for almost free. Instead of working overtime, taking a second job etc. to pay for travel I spend a couple hours a month on this and earn almost free trips.
We highly recommend the Travel Freely app or website to manage of of these things. It will greatly decrease the time you spend on your points hobby.
I only need one credit card to do this
This goes back to the “You Have to Spend Tons and Tons of Money to Earn a Lot of Points” idea. If you open one card, get the sign up bonus and continue to put all of your spending on it, it will take forever to get enough points for free travel. If you want to get free vacations every year or multiple times per year you need to branch out from that one card.
In order to collect enough points for a free vacation you will need to open multiple credit cards per year and meet the sign up bonus.
Annual Fees are Bad
Before I started using points and miles to travel I was under this misconception. The fact is they aren’t bad and most of the time it’s worth paying an annual fee especially that first year you get the sign up bonus. After the first year we recommend reevaluating if you the benefits are worth it. Always remember to keep your cards open at least a year and let the annual fee post a second time. If you cancel within 30 days of that, usually the fee is reimbursed.
You can either cancel the card or downgrade it after you’ve had it a year.
Hoarding points and miles is a good strategy.
We do not recommend this at all. Points and mile redemptions change all of the time and they usually aren’t getting better. In fact usually it’s devaluations that happen each year.
We recommend using them as you accumulate them. Obviously it’s ok to collect enough for a large vacation, but don’t sit on millions of points for years because they aren’t getting more valuable.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.